Getting after it… Warriors progressing well after second scrimmage of preseason
Published 6:00 am Friday, August 9, 2019
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Happy Valley's quarterback looks to gain more yards as he tries to shake an East defender.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
A Warrior running back looks for an open running lane after a nice gain.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
A Happy Valley running back tries to reverse field as a East Patriot defender closes in.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
A pair of Warrior defenders shut down a run attempt by East.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
The Sullivan East quarterback finds himself under pressure from a Happy Valley defender after fumbling the snap.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
A Patriot runner is stood up on a great stop by a Happy Valley defender.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Happy Valley head coach Jason Jarrett and Sullivan East head coach Mike Locke share a moment during Wednesday evening's scrimmage at Sullivan East.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR STAFF
BLUFF CITY- Like most teams in the area, the Happy Valley Warriors are quickly advancing to the first game of the season and looking to see where they are measuring up with other schools during their preseason workouts.
On Wednesday, Coach Jason Jarrett and the Warriors boarded the bus and traveled to Bluff City where they tangled with the Class 4A Sullivan East Patriots in their second scrimmage in as many weeks.
While the Warriors were wearing unnumbered jerseys, it wasn’t hard to tell that Happy Valley is showing signs of forming into a team that will be competitive week in and week out if they can stay away from the injury bug.
On the defensive side, the Warriors were laying some tough licks and leaving a few bruises along the way as Coach Greg Hyder has his defensive unit starting to round out into regular-season form with just a couple of weeks left before Happy Valley plays a game that counts.
Offensively, the skill group that was playing so good in the 7-on-7 season continues to grow and improve daily and will be a tough group to deal with in two weeks.
Jarrett has been keeping the length of scrimmages down as the key for this preseason is to make sure his depth chart is in place come regular season.
“Two scrimmages in, we have kept the scrimmages pretty short,” said Jarrett. “We are just trying to build depth. Obviously we have seen some good things. And, we have also seen some things that we have to work on.
“It’s like every team this time of year. But we have some things to build on and if we can stay healthy and continue to improve each and every day I think that we can be competitive this year in a lot of games.”
If there has been one area of surprise for the Warriors in the preseason, it has been the growth of the front line which plays a huge part in the success of a team.
“We have been doing pretty good up front,” Jarrett stated. “I am proud of the guys up front. Since preseason to now, they have gotten a lot better and I am really proud of those guys because that is where the games are won and lost.
“Our skill guys–our running backs have been running the ball with some authority. We do have to do a better job of catching the ball on the perimeter.
“That will come with some time but I think we will be fine out there because we have some good players out there.”
The Warriors have another scrimmage scheduled Tuesday when they travel to Avery County for one final tune up at 6 pm before kickoff of the regular season.
